


four footprints (side by side)

by carolinka



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (about his age), Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Growing Old Together, Insecure Tony, M/M, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 00:38:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19345984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinka/pseuds/carolinka
Summary: Tony laughs mirthlessly, “I always thought I’d die as Iron Man,” he says, and it’s nothing Steve doesn’t know because Tony never held back, never hesitated back then. His eyes always said huh, maybe next time. “I didn’t think I’d make it to my sixties. And now I’m sixty two and I have no idea what awaits me.”“A very long vacation?” Steve offers weakly, and is surprised when Tony laughs.





	four footprints (side by side)

“I’m going up to shower, Steve,” Tony calls out to him one foot already out of the door, his amused voice startling him out of his endless one sided war with the punching bag. He catches it to his chest, his feet taking two steps back to keep his balance. Tony’s mouth quirks to the side but it doesn’t erase the exhaustion. He hears the unsaid _it doesn’t punch back_ and his mouth curls into a similar smile.

He eyes Tony’s chest to make sure he isn’t pushing himself too hard despite the doctor’s orders, even though Tony has been meek with doctors for a few years now. He doesn’t pretend to not know why when it comes up and he can’t be sure if Tony appreciates or hates it.

“Alright, I’ll come up in ten,” he says, then adds thoughtfully, “I’ll massage your back.”

“You can stay,” Tony says exasperatedly, but it’s just a part of his routine to object, he doesn’t actually think Steve will change his mind anymore.

“Ten minutes.”

***

He’s up in the penthouse in exactly six minutes because the years are catching up to him as well, no matter what Tony thinks. He hears the water running and he smiles to himself. Retirement has been suiting them better than he thought it would. He quickly chucks the clothes in the laundry basket, sliding into the bathtub. Despite his earlier reluctance, Tony’s eyes sparkle when he sees Steve. “Hey Cap.”

“Language,” Steve grins, adjusting the showerhead to aim at his head and groans in relief as the cool water hits his burning skin from behind. He throws his head back and lets the water trail down this chest, sighing happily when Tony’s hands start running over his shoulders. “You just keep getting more unreal,” Tony murmurs, Steve picking it up only because of his enhanced hearing. He opens his eyes and Tony meets his gaze, unflinching. Tony stopped hiding from him many years ago but it still twists his heart to hear him sometimes. He draws Tony closer and their wet skin glide against each other. The touch ignites a spark in the his chest, but like a wildfire, it spreads to his whole body, overwhelming and confusing in its’ intensity, just like it did when they first touched more than as friends. It still takes a few moments for his body to adapt and trick that fire into a cage, so he can settle into a familiar pleasure, bone deep and patient. Unassuming.

Tony laughs into his mouth and his hand finds his cock, which had gotten hard in a heartbeat when they first touched. “That’s what you do to me,” Steve chokes out because Tony knows him, Tony knows his way around Steve’s body, more than he knows his own body.

***

“Did you take your medicine?” Steve asks, throwing the massage oil on the bed. He hasn’t bothered to wear anything because he just doesn’t like wearing clothes, his skin more sensitive to fabrics after the serum, a fact that always amused Tony and one that he kept to himself all those years.

“Are you my babysitter or my husband?” Tony murmurs into the pillow, averting his eyes. Steve huffs, “You didn’t, did you?”

Tony mumbles something else but even Steve can’t understand it. “What?” he asks distractedly as he brings Tony his pills and water.

“Nothing,” he says neutrally, which makes Steve arch his brows. Tony rolls his eyes but pops his pills and gulps them down.

Steve nudges him back on the bed and coats his hands with massage oil. They always come in scents Steve loves somehow. He slaps his hand down on the flesh of his ass and kisses him quickly on the cheek with a huge grin when Tony turns to glare at him. He straddles Tony’s thighs and starts working his way up from the top of his ass, making him abandon his pretence at being annoyed. His rigid muscles melt under his hands, his breathing slows and evens out in less than five minutes.

“I wish you didn’t work this much.”

Tony’s eyes crack open, looking at Steve like he wants to give Steve what he wants already. But he’s hung up on the idea that he is still paying off his debts.

“I still have a lot to give to the world,” he says but it lacks any heat.

“You gave the world so many bright, amazing kids,” he kisses his shoulder, digging his thumb in a particularly tense spot, “you deserve a break.”

Tony’s eyes dart around, betraying that he is already entertaining the idea. The fact that he’s so tired that he’s accepting he needs to rest is the evidence that this has gone on for too long. “What about you?” he says at last and Steve doesn’t bother hiding his smile as he throws himself next to Tony.

“We can take a vacation.”

Tony chuckles, “You’ve thought about this.”

“Only for the last ten years.”

Tony’s smile dims a bit but he shakes it off. “Everyone will think you’re my sugar baby,” he says teasingly and the tight knot in Steve’s chest dissolves hearing his light tone.

“More like your sugar grandkid.”

Tony flicks his nose, “Uncalled for Mr. Rogers. Behave or I won’t give you pocket money.”

Steve grabs Tony’s hand before he can start tickling, entwining their fingers. “You know I like seeing you age, right?”

The easy mood disappears but this has to be said, because Tony has to understand. “I know, Steve,” he smiles, genuine but a bit wobbly, “there is nothing grand about staying forever young.”

He grits his teeth, because death was never talked aloud with the Avengers. The threat was imminent, it always filled the silences through the cracks and danced over their heads without a care but talking about it made everyone uneasy, so they avoided it for many years.

But Steve and Tony, they can’t do that. Bottling it up never helped them.

“It’s rather gruesome,” Steve agrees, voice carefully steady.

Tony laughs mirthlessly, “I always thought I’d die as Iron Man,” he says, and it’s nothing Steve doesn’t know because Tony never held back, never hesitated back then. His eyes always said _huh, maybe next time_. “I didn’t think I’d make it to my sixties. And now I’m sixty two and I have no idea what awaits me.”

“A very long vacation?” Steve offers weakly, and is surprised when Tony laughs.

“You know what? Why the fuck not?”

“I want to hold hands and walk so slow that we block the traffic,” Steve announces dreamily, an image already forming in his head. They’ll probably invite a lot of stares, giggling teenage girls swooning over the idea of undying love whenever they looked at them.

“Where do we go first?” Tony asks in that tone that says his mind had already taken off but he’s waiting for Steve to catch up. Steve’s hand starts roaming his slick back, going lower until he meets the swell of his ass, fingers dipping into his crack deeper and deeper each time, making Tony thrust back into his hands.

Steve shrugs because it doesn’t matter where they go first, he has no intention of coming back to States for a long time. “Helsinki?”

Tony mouths Helsinki and stares at him dubiously. “That was totally random.”

Steve’s lips stretch into a smile, “One hundred per cent.”

“How long this vacation will be exactly?”

“Until we get bored,” Steve says unabashedly and turns Tony around on lay his back, eyes darting below his waist to see he is half hard. Tony groans and looks at his cock like it’s betraying him.

Steve crawls until his face is inches away from it, patting the sheets with one hand to find the oil while the other grabs his cock to give a few experimental tugs. Tony looks flushed all the way down to his chest but he is biting his lips unconsciously, like he’s more embarrassed than aroused. “I don’t know if I can come today.”

“Only one way to find out,” Steve says as he breaches Tony with a finger, his tongue curling around the shiny head. “And it’s okay if you don’t, yeah? You still enjoy it even if you don’t come?”

Tony hesitates but then nods, throwing his arms over his eyes when Steve swallows him whole. Steve comes off with a pop, and jerks him until Tony looks at him. “It just makes it even more wonderful when you do.”

Tony snorts, but his body goes lax, legs opening up further to make space for him. “You’d find a way to find anything hot.”

“Everything about you is hot,” Steve tries to say but he can’t because his mouth has better things to do.

***

“I heard the news,” Natasha says instead of a greeting, brushing against his shoulder intentionally on her way and Tony falls into step with her. It was something she picked up from self help books she borrowed from Sam. For a long time, Tony didn’t get why she insisted on this when it clearly made her itchy, but now he knows Natasha just wants them to know what they mean to her. She’s still uncomfortable with it, still looks like an amateur performing in front of thousands of people but it’s the thought that counts.

She closes the door quietly and motions for Tony to sit on the couch. She crouches in front of her mini fridge and eyes the contents with disgust. “Hungry?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“I’ve only got sandwiches,” she says, and she throws one with more force than necessary.

“Jesus, Natasha,” he mutters, “What did this poor sandwich do to you?”

She glares at her own sandwich before she sits down beside him, “Other than being healthy and green?”

Tony shakes his head in amusement but his smile slips when he sees some new wrinkles around her eyes that wasn’t there the last time they were alone. Of course, Natasha catches it and fixes him with a stern look. “Again?”

“Sorry,” he apologises instantly, face hot with guilt and he bites into his sandwich but swallowing is hard with the lump in his throat. Natasha silently hands him a bottle of water and he drinks it gratefully.

“You look great,” he says, purposefully looking in her eyes to show her he’s not lying.

Natasha’s face crumples in sympathy for a second and she shuffles closer until their arms touch. “So do you, Tony,” she says and rests her head on his shoulder. Tony laughs but it’s more of a whine, so Natasha has to look up to him.

“You do,” she says with her no-bullshit tone. “You look better than you did at fourty.”

“I was dying then, it doesn’t count,” he counters.

“You’re dying now too,” she says, not unkindly but Tony flinches nevertheless.

“Don’t even remind me,” he says, and he wants to close the subject but his mouth has other ideas. “I wasn’t afraid to die when we were fighting with aliens every other day,” he says softly, but it sounds deafeningly loud to his own ears, “but now it’s probably years away and I can’t think of anything else.”

“Sounds like a man who has a lot to lose,” Natasha says mildly, but her eyes are suspiciously bright under the sunlight streaming through the open windows. She understands, feeling so unworthy that you hide from anyone else in the world, telling yourself other people are just burden. She understands holding onto what you find with both hands and you can’t even get distracted for one second or they’ll take it from you.

“Is this about Steve?” she asks suddenly looking way too cheerful for the subject.

Tony frowns at her, “Everything is about Steve,” he says, trying to play it cool as a joke but it falls flat.

“I know what this is,” she says with something akin to glee, after a few moments of scrutinising him, “are you having problems in bedroom?”

Tony snorts, “I’m sixty two, of course we are having problems.”

“I bet he still thinks you’re the most attractive person in existence, Thor included,” she declares, pressing her lips together to suppress a grin. “Does he still pop boners left and right around you?”

“Sure, all the time. Our biggest problem,” he says sarcastically but he looks happier, with the red adorning his cheekbones.

“Aww,” she croons, patting his head. “It’s so cute how shy you get about having sex with Steve.”

A knock puts a stop to Natasha’s teasing and Steve’s head appear from the hallway, face brightening with a smile when he spots them.

“Stealing my husband?” Steve asks when she hops on to her feet to give him a hug.

“Just gossiping about you,” she says with a straight face. “I mean, wow, Steve, give the guy a rest, will you?”

“Oh-kay, I’ll take it from here. We’ll send you some postcards, it was nice knowing you,” Steve shots back with an on point imitation of Tony and Tony splutters, distinctly aware that he should be more insulted by being made fun of but there are more important matters he needs to draw attention to. “We will not send her postcards Steve, I don’t think they even sell them anymore.”

“They do and I will be expecting them.”

“Whatever,” Tony grumbles, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to put a kiss on her hair. He lets himself soak in the familiar scent for a moment and smiles gratefully when she looks up at him.

“I’ll call you,” Steve beams at her over his shoulder as they close the door.

**Author's Note:**

> *shameless self insert* that teenage girl swooning is me.


End file.
